Survival is hard enough in the outer colonies—what chance does love
have?

Life can be harsh and
lonely in the outer colonies, but miner-turned-farmer Abraham Bauer is living
his dream, cultivating crops that will one day turn the unforgiving world of
Alkirak into paradise. He wants more, though. A companion—someone quiet like
him. Someone to share his days, his bed, and his heart.

Gael Sonnen has never
seen the sky, let alone the sun. He’s spent his whole life locked in the
undercity beneath Zhemosen, running from one desperate situation to another.
For a chance to get out, he’ll do just about anything—even travel to the far
end of the galaxy as a mail-order husband. But no plan of Gael’s has ever gone
smoothly, and his new start on Alkirak is no exception. Things go wrong from
the moment he steps off the shuttle.

Although Gael arrives
with unexpected complications, Abraham is prepared to make their relationship
work—until Gael’s past catches up with them, threatening Abraham’s livelihood,
the freedom Gael gave everything for, and the love neither man ever hoped to
find.

Excerpt

Bram tapped his
guests on the shoulder. They both turned, the visible portion of their faces
bright and happy beneath the tinted plastic of their masks. Bram nodded toward
the rover and then pointed for extra emphasis. The temperature had probably
risen ten degrees in the last minute.

Gael turned back
toward the sun, which seemed to have doubled in size. It bobbed low in the
yellow sky, a bright pulse of heat and radiation. He spread his thin arms and
tilted his head back. His curls were damp, clinging to the back of his neck,
and hanging over his ears. Sweat beaded his skin.

“Gael,” Bram said.

He turned at his
name, expression not at all chagrined. Then he took Aavi’s hand and tugged her
back to the rover. As soon as the canopy sealed, he yanked the mask off and
turned a shy smile toward Bram.

“That was amazing.
It’s so big! So huge. And the heat! My skin went all prickly. It was like
standing in front of a radiator, but bigger.” He gave a cracked laugh. “I sound
like such an idiot, but you can’t imagine. You just can’t.”

Gael glanced at Aavi,
grinned, and turned back. His cheeks were a dusky rose—whether from the heat or
excitement, Bram couldn’t tell. He did know that he’d never seen anyone quite
this happy, and incandescent with it. Beautifully happy. His gray eyes wide,
his full lips curved. Pleasure evident in every line, every pore.

Gael touched Bram’s
arm, the pressure of his fingers light, almost nonexistent. “Thank you for
this. It’s a gift, and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”

Holy hands, what was
he to do with that? All he’d done was show them a sunrise. Who made such a big
deal over something so mundane? But nothing about this situation was average or
expected—and Bram was starting to think he should have been more prepared for
that. For the unexpected.

Gael was still giving
him a worshipful look.

Not sure what to say,
Bram gave a stiff nod before turning his eyes frontward and powering up the
rover.

About Kelly Jensen:

If aliens ever do
land on Earth, Kelly will not be prepared, despite having read over a hundred
stories of the apocalypse. Still, she will pack her precious books into a box
and carry them with her as she strives to survive. It’s what bibliophiles do.

Kelly is the author
of a number of novels, novellas and short stories, including the Chaos
Station series, co-written with Jenn Burke. Some of what she writes
is speculative in nature, but mostly it’s just about a guy losing his socks
and/or burning dinner. Because life isn’t all conquering aliens and mountain
peaks. Sometimes finding a happy ever after is all the adventure we need.